Schar School of Policy and Government

It took six years—eight, if you count the two to get the master’s degree—for Craig Wiener to receive his PhD in biodefense from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

The tattered and stained clothes on the table belonged to a young girl; the soiled garments, broken hair accessories and still-tied shoes are all that is left of her. The items were found buried in her grave, a grave she shared with a second person, most likely a relative.

Two students from George Mason University’s Biodefense program have been named Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity (ELBI) for 2016 by the UPMC Center for Health Security, the leading think tank in the United States in the fields of biodefense and global health security. Francisco Cruz, a 2015 graduate of the master’s program in Biodefense, and Siddha Hover, a current PhD student in Biodefense, have earned this highly competitive fellowship.

“We are not Democrats first. We are not Republicans first. We are Americans first.” These were Verizon State Government Affairs Manager Douglas Brammer’s opening remarks at the 2016 ‘After Virginia Votes’ forum in Dewberry Hall on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

Schar School of Policy and Government undergraduate students showed off their impressive work from the academic year at the First Annual Schar School Undergraduate Research Fair. Eight students enrolled in the Schar School’s honors seminar discussed their research papers in 30 minute presentations. Forty students who participated in the Undergraduate Research Assistants Program (URAP) presented research posters on the projects they have been working on with their faculty mentors this term.

It’s a question just about everyone faces at some point: Will I remain healthy and will I be happy after retirement?

I chose this opportunity because after many years of studying in the United States I wanted to expand and broaden my cultural perspectives by studying abroad in a foreign country. Along with the great cultural experience I wanted to travel to Budapest, Hungary because it seemed to be a different experience then the common study abroad locations such as England, Spain, Italy, etc. I was also quite interested to obtain better knowledge and an understanding of different countries and how they function. As a person with different ethnic backgrounds it intrigues me to visit distinct countries and learn their customs, languages, and manners.

Meeting the Egyptian ambassador to Panama and rubbing shoulders with U.S. Department of State VIPs are just two of the things that have made Katie Garay’s summer internship truly memorable.

Transportation consultant Christine Sherman discovered the importance of developing public-private partnerships to leverage resources for the enhancement of real-time transportation information.

After four decades in the classroom, a George Mason University macroeconomics professor is putting theories into practice that could change the economic future of Scotland and the lives of its 5.5 million citizens.